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Ashcans
Jan 2, 2006

Let's do the space-time warp again!

seriouslywtf posted:

Are you specifically looking for a wool suiting (like the one you linked), or just any gray wool? What weight are you hoping to find, I guess is my question.

I'm looking for wool suiting, yes. To explain, I'm trying my hand at making a suit using a pattern I rustled up. I live in Georgia, so a light or medium weight is probably best.

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seriouslywtf
Jul 10, 2003

Seriously. WTF?

Ashcans posted:

I'm looking for wool suiting, yes. To explain, I'm trying my hand at making a suit using a pattern I rustled up. I live in Georgia, so a light or medium weight is probably best.
I found these two that sorta fit what you're looking for:

http://www.gorgeousfabrics.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=5633

http://www.gorgeousfabrics.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=6429

Ashcans
Jan 2, 2006

Let's do the space-time warp again!


Thank you for the help! These look a little darker than I would like, but it can be so hard to tell from online pictures, so it's probably worth getting swatches. I appreciate you taking the time to look them up.

Cuddlebottom
Feb 17, 2004

Butt dance.
I have something to add to the embroidery questions from the last page - what does everyone here use for transfers (if anything?) I tried that tracing paper, but it rubbed off if you looked at it funny. Rinse-out marker was OK, but bled for fine lines.

Edit: And thanks for that clipart page - it has some really great images.

Cuddlebottom fucked around with this message at 18:43 on Mar 15, 2009

handbags at dawn
Mar 8, 2007
I have used this before with good results: http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog.jsp?CATID=cat3423&PRODID=prd17555

Basically, you draw with it on tracing paper and then use the tracing paper as an iron-on transfer.

Octoduck
Feb 8, 2006

Rudy had heart,
but he still sucked.
Quick sewing/tailoring question:

I need to lower the crotch area of a flight suit and was wondering how difficult/possible it would be?

I have pictures of the seams if that is needed.

squirrellypoo
Feb 8, 2003

Octoduck posted:

I need to lower the crotch area of a flight suit and was wondering how difficult/possible it would be?
Ooh, lowering the crotch is really easy on trousers. Turn them inside out, and put one leg inside the other so you can see the crotch curve, then just sew a new curve a bit below the original one, and trim off the old seam allowance. It seems counter-intuitive, but think of it like you're creating more space for the body...

Octoduck
Feb 8, 2006

Rudy had heart,
but he still sucked.

squirrellypoo posted:

Ooh, lowering the crotch is really easy on trousers. Turn them inside out, and put one leg inside the other so you can see the crotch curve, then just sew a new curve a bit below the original one, and trim off the old seam allowance. It seems counter-intuitive, but think of it like you're creating more space for the body...

Hey you're right that is pretty simply. Thanks a ton, I had to explain it like you said to the tailor.

Nione
Jun 3, 2006

Welcome to Trophy Island
Rub my tummy
Somewhat off topic, but does anyone have any advice on finding a dressmaker? I have a dress idea, actually a wedding dress, but it's far beyond my skill level, especially since I can't find a pattern for exactly what I want. I know of one person that a friend had make a dress for her, but she works only by patterns and only using certain fabrics that she orders from a bridal supply store and I have the fabric I want to use all picked out.

I did a search for dressmakers/designers in my city (St. Louis, MO) and found a lot of tailoring/alteration shops, but didn't really see much in the way of people who could create a pattern or vastly alter a pattern and create a dress from scratch. If I start contacting alteration shops will I usually find people who are able to do this? My other idea was to contact a local sewing/fabric shop, but I'm concerned about getting someone who "thinks" they could do it and then have trouble executing it the way I want. Does anyone else have any recommendations or ideas?

guaranteed
Nov 24, 2004

Do not take apart gun by yourself, it will cause the trouble and dangerous.
Is there a school with a fashion design program nearby, maybe? It could be a disaster, but the posters in here who are students seem to turn out some really well-made stuff.

handbags at dawn
Mar 8, 2007
If it's a wedding dress, you might contact local people in that industry - wedding planners, florists, bakers, and see if they've heard any names thrown around. People in any business tend to hear things (good and bad) about other tradespeople.

Axxonn.
Jan 6, 2008

Does anybody know of any classes that I could take to learn how to tailor my own jackets and make my own dress shirts? I guess like taking measurements and making patterns from the measurements? I live in NYC and I am not sure if there are like private lessons or anything for this kind of stuff. I don't want to have to take a million classes at FIT or anything as this is more of a hobby. I don't want a degree I just want to enjoy the art more than anything. Any info would be much appreciated.

vaginadeathgrip
Jun 18, 2003

all them bitches can't handle my sassy ass mouth

Axxonn. posted:

Does anybody know of any classes that I could take to learn how to tailor my own jackets and make my own dress shirts? I guess like taking measurements and making patterns from the measurements? I live in NYC and I am not sure if there are like private lessons or anything for this kind of stuff. I don't want to have to take a million classes at FIT or anything as this is more of a hobby. I don't want a degree I just want to enjoy the art more than anything. Any info would be much appreciated.

I'm not sure about classes, but you can always buy a pretty comprehensive patternmaking book like this one. It's a pretty big staple in design school.

meatsneakers
Mar 19, 2009
Hi everyone - I don't want to make a new post for this, and I figured the sewing community might have an answer for me. I am building 28 bass traps for my home studio.

A photo of someone's (sloppy) bass trap (the framed object on the top):



It's basically a wood frame with a piece of rigid insulation inside, which is wrapped in a breathable fabric. It is used to control reflections, bass build-up and echos. A lot of people use burlap, but any fabric which you're able to, 1. blow through and 2. not see through, is usable.

I am trying to keep these cheap and yet presentable. A lot of DIY plans for these mention that black burlap can be picked up for $2/yard but I've been looking all over, both online and in the NYC area and the average price is ~$5 -$6 for 56" wide yards. The frames are 2'x4'x3", so each piece needs to be roughly 32"x54" in order to wrap around the frame and hide the wood.

Can anyone recommend a black/red/orange/etc fabric which is breathable, at least 56" wide and not-see through that's around $2 - $3 per yard? I've looked through the sites mentioned in the OP, but I can't tell if some of the fabrics are see-through, or breathable.

no.no.notorious
Feb 19, 2009

meatsneakers posted:

Can anyone recommend a black/red/orange/etc fabric which is breathable, at least 56" wide and not-see through that's around $2 - $3 per yard? I've looked through the sites mentioned in the OP, but I can't tell if some of the fabrics are see-through, or breathable.

A light flannel would be more opaque than straight woven cotton and is breathable. This may be your best choice. as for price, i'm pretty sure you could find cheap light flannel.

meatsneakers
Mar 19, 2009

no.no.notorious posted:

A light flannel would be more opaque than straight woven cotton and is breathable. This may be your best choice. as for price, i'm pretty sure you could find cheap light flannel.


JoAnns had a 40% off sale on their website, so I was able to get 40 yards of black burlap, 36" wide for 99$ shipped, which works out to 2.47$ a yard. Since it was cheap enough, I will just wrap them the long way. Thanks for the tip though.

RichBomb
Nov 16, 2004
a strange and terrible saga
Made these back in August, worn pretty much every other day with a few week long stints since then.





Pocket corner reinforcement

RichBomb
Nov 16, 2004
a strange and terrible saga
Finished these the other night







Boomtime.


But in the mean time I have a 7 by 7 airplane munitions box that I need to convert into a cutting and ironing table. I've been told that plywood with 1 - insul bright 2 - cotton batting (for extra padding) 3 - cotton twill will do me well for the ironing bit and just to get cutting mats for the other side. Any suggestions?

squirrellypoo
Feb 8, 2003

RichBomb posted:

But in the mean time I have a 7 by 7 airplane munitions box that I need to convert into a cutting and ironing table. I've been told that plywood with 1 - insul bright 2 - cotton batting (for extra padding) 3 - cotton twill will do me well for the ironing bit and just to get cutting mats for the other side. Any suggestions?
If you're putting that much effort into making your own cutting/ironing table, you may want to consider going an extra few steps and make yourself a grain board (god it just took me 15 minutes of searching through my sewing blogs to find that post, guh).

And I love the worn-in look of the first pair of jeans, I can't believe how well the denim has aged. I've got a pair I made almost exactly a year ago out of super-thick Levis denim, wearing them 2-3 times a week all year, and they've barely worn at all. Do you wash and tumble dry them on high heat or something?

Seriously, it seems like everyone is sewing jeans right now, it must be the season for it (though I know you do all year round). I just finished another pair myself, with these really weird seamlines and a bit of the front wraps around all the way to the CB. I'll post photos in a few days when it's up on my site.

handbags at dawn
Mar 8, 2007

RichBomb posted:

But in the mean time I have a 7 by 7 airplane munitions box that I need to convert into a cutting and ironing table. I've been told that plywood with 1 - insul bright 2 - cotton batting (for extra padding) 3 - cotton twill will do me well for the ironing bit and just to get cutting mats for the other side. Any suggestions?
I was going to say this sounds great to me but I'm a quilter, not a tailor, and so I only cut on cutting boards with a rotary cutter (making the mat necessary). I see that the grain board squirellypoo has linked is a padded gridded surface, is that more for tailors? (I almost said seamstress and thought better of it!)


Click here for the full 420x604 image.

This is a quilt top I finished recently. The colors are a little off in this picture, and I just realized when I took it I didn't have the side borders put on yet, sorry. I'm in the process of quilting it at the moment, and am really regretting my decision to stitch in the ditch. There's a lot of ditches.

I've finished about five quilts of varying sizes. My family is very warm.

I also made a "tea wallet" for a friend of mine at her request, apparently it can hold tea bags:

Click here for the full 604x453 image.


Click here for the full 604x453 image.


And then I got carried away and changed the dimensions a little and the wallet holds credit cards:

Click here for the full 604x453 image.

4R7 THi3F
Aug 8, 2005

oh... so you ARE sick....
I made a bra for my lingerie class. It's a coordinates with the chemise I posted earlier.

We had to deconstruct an ugly, very matronly maidenform bra and copy the pattern pieces in a different fabric. I added a bunch of trim to make it less fugly.





I added a little rosette/button detail over the closure.

McDougirl
Jun 22, 2006
this title is custom-made!
I am always just so impressed with this thread. Great job you guys, I'm jealous of all three of you. (and most everyone else for that matter)

RichBomb
Nov 16, 2004
a strange and terrible saga

squirrellypoo posted:

If you're putting that much effort into making your own cutting/ironing table, you may want to consider going an extra few steps and make yourself a grain board (god it just took me 15 minutes of searching through my sewing blogs to find that post, guh).

And I love the worn-in look of the first pair of jeans, I can't believe how well the denim has aged. I've got a pair I made almost exactly a year ago out of super-thick Levis denim, wearing them 2-3 times a week all year, and they've barely worn at all. Do you wash and tumble dry them on high heat or something?

Seriously, it seems like everyone is sewing jeans right now, it must be the season for it (though I know you do all year round). I just finished another pair myself, with these really weird seamlines and a bit of the front wraps around all the way to the CB. I'll post photos in a few days when it's up on my site.
I've been wearing them every other day since I made them. The wear time has included some back packing in Europe and other hard wear too. I actually don't really wash them that much, they've had maybe 3 washes and I always hang dry.

Thanks for the tutorial, I'll post results soonish.

no.no.notorious
Feb 19, 2009

4R7 THi3F posted:

I made a bra for my lingerie class. It's a coordinates with the chemise I posted earlier.

We had to deconstruct an ugly, very matronly maidenform bra and copy the pattern pieces in a different fabric. I added a bunch of trim to make it less fugly.





I added a little rosette/button detail over the closure.



that came out really cool. I have to say i'm great with a sewing machine, I've made things for other people (rarely myself), from scratch and from patterns, but i find I use my skills more so for altering things. I hem all my pants, alter shirts and dresses and what not, I'm always dying something to spruce up the color...do others find themselves doing this more so than making things from scratch?

RichBomb
Nov 16, 2004
a strange and terrible saga
If you make it cool from scratch, you don't need to alter cool in :cool:

No really, altering is a pain in the butt, especially on guys clothes where there's so much chainstitching and flat felling.

my formal jorts
Oct 19, 2004
So I think I'd like to give actual clothing design a go, but I'm not able to study it in any kind of school setting. Can anyone who is either a professional or a student (or just informed) give me advice on books? I have a bit of a vague idea of what I want so far, but wouldn't mind a bit of guidance.

This one seems to be the most popular from a brief look around;

Patternmaking for Fashion Design by Joseph Helen Armstrong

But this one uses the metric system, hurray!

Metric Pattern Cutting for Womens Wear by Aldrich Winifred.

Can anyone who has used either of those give an opinion or suggest a better alternative?

squirrellypoo
Feb 8, 2003
All the jeans bitching in the Ladies Shopping thread reminded me to post my recently sewn jeans in here...

They're from the Jan 09 edition of KnipMode magazine (Dutch language pattern mag) and they've got these weird "arms" on the front piece that curve around and extend all the way to the centre back to meet itself. And then the back piece has one, long, curved seam above the bum. Topstitching both the inseam AND the outer seam was a huge PITA but I'm really, really happy with the fit of these (I really, truly don't have a massive muffin top like the first photo would have you believe).







Loads more photos and topstitching tips, etc over here

And Haaat!, I've heard nothing but good things about the Winifred Aldrich book, it's been on my Amazon wishlist for like 3 years now. :) There are a couple reviews of each on Pattern Review, btw - Metric Pattern Cutting and Patternmaking for Fashion Design.

madlilnerd
Jan 4, 2009

a bush with baggage
Inspired by crazy veterans on the simpsons, I give you THE RAG FLAG:

punk-a-licious. (AKA- oh god I'm so out of practice with my sewing machine)

Only registered members can see post attachments!

RichBomb
Nov 16, 2004
a strange and terrible saga

Haaat! posted:

So I think I'd like to give actual clothing design a go, but I'm not able to study it in any kind of school setting. Can anyone who is either a professional or a student (or just informed) give me advice on books? I have a bit of a vague idea of what I want so far, but wouldn't mind a bit of guidance.

This one seems to be the most popular from a brief look around;

Patternmaking for Fashion Design by Joseph Helen Armstrong

But this one uses the metric system, hurray!

Metric Pattern Cutting for Womens Wear by Aldrich Winifred.

Can anyone who has used either of those give an opinion or suggest a better alternative?

http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/on_reviewing_pattern_books/

I have the one by Armstrong, but I haven't been able to get at it yet.

Anyways, new sewing studio on the way, currently building the cutting/ironing table. I bolted my industrial to the ground the otherday which was loving righteous.

RichBomb fucked around with this message at 02:10 on Apr 12, 2009

handbags at dawn
Mar 8, 2007

RichBomb posted:

Anyways, new sewing studio on the way, currently building the cutting/ironing table. I bolted my industrial to the ground the otherday which was loving righteous.
Be sure and post pictures of the setup when it's done, I love seeing that kind of stuff and I know I can't be alone.

no.no.notorious
Feb 19, 2009

madlilnerd posted:

Inspired by crazy veterans on the simpsons, I give you THE RAG FLAG:

punk-a-licious. (AKA- oh god I'm so out of practice with my sewing machine)

thats so cute! now i have to do that with the puerto rican flag...thanks for the post!

Pile of Kittens
Apr 23, 2005

Why does everything STILL smell like pussy?

I've been busy. I started an Etsy store, so I have pretty pictures of the things I've been making.




Goldaline
Dec 21, 2006

my dear
I've been makin' stuff, but some dickant stole my camera. So here's some stuff.

Bag made of old boots, army uniforms, other second-hand materials.





Yay it's a surprise inside.

I made some pants too, and I've started on this thingy:

Yay italian cording feathers.

flippy
Oct 23, 2005

RichBomb posted:

Thanks for the compliments everybody. This is my 4th sewing project, the first two being boxers and for the third I tore up some old 505's and used them for a patterns for jeans that didn't look that great.

I know you posted this a while back, but I am late to the party. You made those jeans as your *4th* sewing project? Did you have any other background? What learning material did you use?

I have been toying with the idea of getting into sewing, and the idea of making my own jeans appeals to me, but it looked really hard.

RichBomb
Nov 16, 2004
a strange and terrible saga

flippy posted:

I know you posted this a while back, but I am late to the party. You made those jeans as your *4th* sewing project? Did you have any other background? What learning material did you use?

I have been toying with the idea of getting into sewing, and the idea of making my own jeans appeals to me, but it looked really hard.

I have no background in sewing. I may or may not be an obsessive and neurotic maniac though. Before those I'd made two pairs of boxers and one other pair of jeans. Jeans are hard, I won't pretend they aren't, but it's only fabric and thread, totally doable.

I'm actually wearing the first pair I made right now, they're my work jeans now and I was working on my studio today.

Here are some horrid pictures of my studio thus far. It looks dingy and gross (it kind of is) but these things just become sexy using a 50mm lens, and so on, so no worries.

Left to right, my Singer, my work table and then my storage boxes. In the back right I want to put in a fabric rack, and a footpress for buttons and rivets somewhere.


The table is an old ammunition box from WWII. The side facing the machine will be for ironing, the ply wood will be for marking out patterns/cutting. The home machines might migrate but they seem ok right there. (I really need an industrial serger/safety stitch, that little overlocker is a POS)


These used to hold 50 caliber anti aircraft rounds. Now they hold my tools, the sewing machines, spray paint and frisbees.


This is where the ironing board I'm trying to build should go. I'm kind of too proud of the little ruler and mallet holster I stapled to the box though.


Here's the materials for said board. The mesh gives too much when stapled to the frame, so I'm not sure what to do other than get heavier mesh or look for a metal grate on the cheap.


For the cutting board I've just got some plywood with 1/4 rubber grommets underneath. I'm looking for some cutting mats or battleship linoleum to put on top.


And this side will soon have a futon, computers, clothing rack etc for livability.


It also looks like I'm set to work with a professional patternmaker on my final pattern/grading so I'll be ready to take orders for all sizes soon. Then I'll branch out to skinny and full/vintage cut. This sewing studio is just an experiment though, I have the luxury to screw around until June 1st. Hopefully I'll have a paid internship with the Travel Chanel for the summer, but that would take me away from this and it's starting to get really exciting.

RichBomb fucked around with this message at 16:29 on May 7, 2009

handbags at dawn
Mar 8, 2007
I have to say that is the manliest sewing area ever - you are lucky to have that much room!

Plus you need to tell me where you live so I can come steal that Singer, dang.

ps Nice label :)

krushgroove
Oct 23, 2007

Disapproving look
Hi, sewing goons! It looks like some serious sewing fanatics reside here.

I do patches, small repairs and darning by hand but I have a sewing machine I picked up off Freecycle I haven't used yet, at some point I want to cut up some old jeans and make little projects with the denim, attach jeans pockets to my man-bag, etc...

The reason why I'm posting is because I picked up a beat-up Barbour waxed cotton jacket (these are £160-200 brand new, made for hunting and quite cool-looking in a vintage way) a couple of days ago (also from Freecycle) and it is in dire need of serious patching and repair. The torso and sleeves have an unwaxed cotton liner sewn in and then there's the outer shell of waxed cotton. I could send it off to Barbour to patch everything, lengthen the sleeves and reproof the fabric, but in total it would be like £70 for everything and I'm happy to try it myself.

I've got some of the Barbour wax proofing dressing on the way from eBay but I'm going to get the (discontinued) repair kit from there as well, so I can match the fabric as much as I can - the repair kit includes the original fabric and thread. Apparently fabrics get much darker when waxed so it would be hard to match the green of the fabric right now. Also, the way Barbour do their sleeve patches is to add full-length patches from the shoulders to the cuffs, so I'll need a bit of fabric (one sleeve already has a full patch). Does anyone have suggestions on how to patch something with an inner liner? Should I start with a small patch and work up to the full sleeve patch?

Finally, I'd like to lengthen the sleeves or add a cotton cuff (both of which can be done if you send it in for repair) - can anyone point me to thorough instructions online showing how to do this? I'd prefer to lengthen the sleeves but then the cuff wear will be an inch above the cuff, so maybe it's better to add a 2cm cotton cuff to the edge? I'm leaving this to last because it's not so critical, the tears on the sleeves are the worst.

Sorry for the long first post :)


tl;dr What's the easiest method of sewing a patch onto a jacket with an inner liner, and how can I add a cotton cuff to lengthen the sleeves and cover up the damage?

Goldaline
Dec 21, 2006

my dear
I hope my posting in here is okay, I know I'm not exactly sewing real clothes for real people. Let me know if I should move it to Creative Convention (although I feel out of place there too. Oh, Fibers, forever straddling the line between commercial and fine art. :( so many arguements about that all the time)

Reconstruction's the name of game now. Starting to get ready for my senior year and senior thesis.

Pants were formerly a pair of standard issue olive green 1960's French army pants and one white shetland wool sweater. Both were dyed grey, sweater was felted. I cut apart the waist band and opened the darts on the pants to create sort of paper bag type waist. Pulled in the extra fabric on the sides and gathered it into a sweater insert, embroidered inside the cable work on the sweater. Pieces are joined with a herringbone stitch in crewel wool The back belt is joined the same way, with crewel laid work. Unfortunately, I took in a little bit too much on the thighs/butt--but I'm hoping I can get a skinny guy to wear them for me, my mate Betty is standing in here, so they fit a bit odd on her.




Poof butt. Sweet.

I also made some sweet robots for a local band that wanted them for their stage show. It was a challenge, because they needed to be able to be broken down and taken with them on tour, and cost less than $50 each. I decided to make PVC frames with fabric "slip covers" that velcroed on. Unfortunately, I lost my camera while making them, so I don't have too many pictures.


PVC frames, I ended up having to drill holes in all the connectos, because they don't make a 4 way 90 degree connector at 1"

Heads made of dollar store baskets. They specified that the robots look a bit "duhh" Sheer panels on the side are so they can be mic'ed and sing while inside the bots--yes, they perform inside them for part of their act!

Happy customers! Yay!

Goldaline fucked around with this message at 03:28 on May 1, 2009

Triangulum
Oct 3, 2007

by Lowtax

Goldaline posted:

PVC frames, I ended up having to drill holes in all the connectos, because they don't make a 4 way 90 degree connector at 1"

Sure they do. You'd be looking for a schd. 40 4 way cross or connector.

http://www.creativeshelters.com/Fittings/Display-All-PVCFittings.aspx

Sorry, I'm a fire sprinkler engineer. I gotta deal with these drat things all the time.

RichBomb, your work area is awesome. And butch as gently caress.

Triangulum fucked around with this message at 17:57 on May 1, 2009

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Goldaline
Dec 21, 2006

my dear
Awww man. That would have been good to know. I don't know that I would have time or money to get those particular ones--but in case I ever build more robots, now I know.

It's always nice when totally obscure work knowledge is useful!

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